i said i think this is the civil rights issue of our generation. the dividing line is not race or class, but around educational opportunity. if we're serious about closing the achievement gap, we have to close the opportunity gap. i do not think we have had anything near the sense of urgency and commitment to closing those gaps that we need to. to look at the staggering inequities and inequalities, we have to get better faster. all those things compel us to act. the president has provided leadership. he understands what is at stake. congress has been supportive. we have to work on this together and put politics and the ideology aside. we have to educate our way to a better economy. i talk about a cradle to career agenda. we have to start with early childhood education. i could make a compelling case that is the best investment we can make. if we can get our babies into kindergarten and ready to read, we start to close the gaps. if we do not do that, we're playing catch-up. we play catch up at every level of the education system. many of our college